Reading 3.000.000 words in German

[Lawyer&Mom]

I got 11,500. Seems about right for someone who has been B2ish for 20 years. I might be more of a passive C1. Maybe. Active vocabulary is definitely smaller!

[Gustav Aschenbach]

Interesting test. I just took it and "only" scored 40,000 words as a native speaker.

If I'm correct about the selection bias, this likely places your vocabulary somewhere in the top 5% of native speakers. Does that sound right?

That's hard to tell! I certainly would be flattered if I was
I think my vocabulary is above average, but I would be surprised if it was in the top 5%...

[slowmoon]

I got 11,500. Seems about right for someone who has been B2ish for 20 years. I might be more of a passive C1. Maybe. Active vocabulary is definitely smaller!

If we work backwards from 42,500 words (a very high-level German native speaker), then perhaps:

30,000 = C2
15,000 = C1
7,500 = B2
3,750 = B1

Just a guess. If true, then 11,500 words (and 20 years of exposure) could be approaching passive C1. The tricky thing is: as Germanic language (or even Romance language) speakers, we can passively recognize thousands of words on Day 1, so the relationship between vocabulary size and CEFR level should be weaker at the A and B levels. Personally, I know some technical terminology shared by English and German, which boosted my overall score, but I can see from the Leipzig/Dialang tests that I am missing a significant chunk of core B-level vocabulary and grammar.

That's hard to tell! I certainly would be flattered if I was
I think my vocabulary is above average, but I would be surprised if it was in the top 5%...

Talented people are often surrounded by other talented people (family, friends, co-workers, etc.), making it difficult for them to see how far from average they are. I very strongly suspect that 40,000 is an unusually high score. Perhaps you can share this test with some non-trilingual, non-professional, non-bookworm German native speakers and tell us how they score.

[Gustav Aschenbach]

I very strongly suspect that 40,000 is an unusually high score. Perhaps you can share this test with some non-trilingual, non-professional, non-bookworm German native speakers and tell us how they score.

Okay I asked a friend and she scored 48,000 words (bilingual German/Croatian and a good knowledge of English, but not a bookworm and not overly interested in, well, "words"...). I did the test again and I this time scored 45,000 words. Hmm...

[slowmoon]

I very strongly suspect that 40,000 is an unusually high score. Perhaps you can share this test with some non-trilingual, non-professional, non-bookworm German native speakers and tell us how they score.

Okay I asked a friend and she scored 48,000 words (bilingual German/Croatian and a good knowledge of English, but not a bookworm and not overly interested in, well, "words"...). I did the test again and I this time scored 45,000 words. Hmm...

Well, I could be wrong about 42,500 words corresponding to the 99th percentile. I also think it's possible that none of your friends are anywhere near average. Hard to say. After all, the average university-educated adult (around 30% of adults?) may already be in the top 15% in vocabulary size.

[Gustav Aschenbach]

Okay I asked another friend and he scored 40,500 (a real bookworm, well educated, ...). That makes 40,000/45,000 (me), 48,000 (friend1) and 40,500 (friend2). Of course the test is really just an approximation, but it seems to be more or less realistic.

[slowmoon]

Okay I asked another friend and he scored 40,500 (a real bookworm, well educated, ...). That makes 40,000/45,000 (me), 48,000 (friend1) and 40,500 (friend2). Of course the test is really just an approximation, but it seems to be more or less realistic.

Thanks for sharing! I think all these numbers make sense. High intermediate to advanced learners scoring around 10-20k. Highly educated natives at 40k. The ceiling of 55k may actually be a bit low for native speakers. With a 70,000 word dictionary, I bet some of you could score over 55k.

[slowmoon]

Week 12-13 Update

...und um den Hals des Fläschchens war ein Zettel gebunden, mit den Worten »Trinke mich!« wunderschön in großen Buchstaben drauf gedruckt.

Reading

Gary Paulsen: Der Fluss, pages 1-120
Frank Herbert: Der Gottkaiser des Wüstenplaneten, pages 435-515
Lois Lowry: Hüter der Erinnerung, pages 7-249
RL Stine: Der Geist ohne Kopf, pages 1-82
RL Stine: Das Versteck der Mumie, pages 1-84
RL Stine: ... und der Schneemensch geht um, pages 1-86
Mario Puzo: Der Pate, pages 1-40
Lewis Carroll: Alice's Abenteuer im Wunderland, 1-20
Ravaari: The Conversion, pages 1-49

857 pages, or ~201.250 words

[slowmoon]

Week 14-17 Update

Samstag, 20. Juni 1942

Papier ist geduldiger als Menschen. Dieses Sprichwort fiel mir ein, als ich an einem meiner leicht-melancholischen Tage gelangweilt am Tisch saß...

- Anne

Reading

George Orwell: Farm der Tiere, pages 1-120
George Orwell: 1984, pages 1-54
Anne Frank: Tagebuch, pages 1-25
JK Rowling: Harry Potter und der Halbblutprinz, pages 5-589
JK Rowling: Harry Potter und die Heiligtümer des Todes, pages 5-292
RL Stine: Ohne jede Spur, pages 1-164
Frank Herbert: Die Ketzer des Wüstenplaneten, pages 1-95
Philip K Dick: Träumen Roboter von elektrischen Schafen?, pages 1-217

1584 pages, or ~387.250 words

Notes:

1. I counted the unknown words on a few pages of Harry Potter 7. It was 1-2%. I can see why >98% known words is considered ideal. I can correctly infer the meaning of most of the unknowns.
2. Feeling confident, I tried to read Der Tod in Venedig by Thomas Mann. I had no idea what was happening and quit after a few pages.
3. The abstract musings of Frank Herbert are usually incomprehensible, even though I've read his books in English, but the non-philosophical dialogue and descriptions aren't too bad with the occasional dictionary look-up.
4. The RL Stine Goosebumps books are easy reads, but the Fear Street books are only slightly below my level.
5. Animal Farm and Harry Potter 6-7 (all new to me) seemed to be more or less at my level.
6. The Philip K Dick translation was challenging in spite of my having read it in English.
7. Orwell's 1984 was difficult enough for me to give up on it. Not enough dialogue. Too much flowery description.
8. If I've counted correctly, I have around 700.000 words remaining. My next update will be the final one. It will include new Leipzig, Dialang, and wortschatz.tk results. Expect it in June.

[DaveAgain]

A link from Reineke's log led me to an article about vocabulary acquisition from reading, that I thought might interest you.